With lawless lips, unbridled tongue,
In language, wanton or profane,
Never, good Lord, from us be wrung
A phrase to take Thy Name in vain.
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For every idle word to Thee,
As each must give a strict account,
Well might we tremble, could we see,
Young as we are, the past amount.
Since, not by blasphemy alone,
When sinners curse Thee to Thy face,
A thought, a sign, a look, a tone,
May cast upon Thy Name disgrace.
Thy name they also desecrate,
Who read Thy Word, who pray, and praise,
Yet not on Thee in spirit wait,
Nor honour Thee in all their ways.
Thy Name!--O by our mouth, that word
Be never spoken,--in our heart
Conceived,--or by our ear be heard,
Without remembering who Thou art:--
God, from eternity the same,
For ever blessing, ever blest;
Holy and reverend is Thy Name,
Why is it not by all confest?
Now, fire from heaven, Thy fire of love,
To sanctify our speech be sent,
Till, gather'd to the Church above,
Pure love shall be our element.
Sacred Poems and Hymns
James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >
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